Apparatus for making tufted fabric



June 6, 1961 w. FELTON 2,987,019

APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUFTED FABRIC Filed May 28, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY June 6, 1961 w. FELTON 2,987,019

APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUFTED FABRIC Filed May 28, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY June 6, 1961 w. FELTON 2,987,019

APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUFTED FABRIC Filed May 28, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 6 APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUFTED FABRIC William Felton, Bolton, Bradford, England, assignor of one-half to David Crabtree & Sou Limited, Laisterdyke,

Bradford, England Filed May 28, 1959, Ser. No. 816,457 Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 8, 1958 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) This invention concerns apparatus for making tufted fabric, e.g. carpet fabric, and is more particularly concerned with apparatus of the type which comprises a plurality of needles adapted to introduce loops of binding thread through a length of backing fabric and subsequently to withdraw such loops, and means for introducing into each of said loops a length of tufting material.

Apparatus of the aforesaid kind is described and claimed in the specification of United States Patent No.

In the specific embodiment of apparatus illustrated :and described in the patent aforesaid, the means for introducing a length of tufting material into each loop is in the form of an arcuate needle having an eye through which a continuous filament of tufting material passes. This arrangement works satisfactorliy with soft tufting material, but cannot be used with springy materials, e.g. curly yarns, since such yarns tend to withdraw from the loops upon withdrawal of the arcuate needle; not can it be used with tufting filaments having knots, slubs or thickened parts, since these jam in the eyes of the needles and cause breakages. Moreover, the movement to ments which have knots, slubs or thickened parts therein.

According to the present invention We provide apparatus for making tufted fabric comprising a plurality of needles adapted to introduce loops of binding thread through a length of backing material and subsequently to withdraw said loops, and means for introducing, into each of said loops, a length of tufting material characterised in that the said means for introducing the tufting material comprises, for each loop, a loop-opening tube adapted to enter the formed loop and to hold it open and to withdraw from the loop, and a tufting material feed tube disposed within the loop-opening tube and movable relative thereto to introduce tufting material into the loop.

The loop-opening tube may be of any desired cross-section, such as round, oval, square or rectangulanvhaving a tapered end for entry into a loop.

The tufting material feed tube is preferably of round section being shaped or formed, at its end corresponding to the tapered end of the loop-opening tube, to apply friction to tufting material passing therethrough.

Mechanisms for displacing the loop-opening tube and tufting material feed tube are preferably such that the loop-opening tube is moved to engage and open its loop, the tufting material feed tube moving simultaneously with the loop-opening tube or thereafter to cause a length of tufting material projecting therefrom to be disposed within the loop, whereupon the loop-opening tube is withdrawn.

The arrangement may be such that the tufting material feed tube moves away from the loop, after the latter has been withdrawn into the backing material, to'cause ice tufting material to be fed therethrough, prior to cutting the attached tuft.

The invenion will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, ,in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic part-sectional side elevation showing the essential parts of a practical form of apparatus in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective View, with parts broken away, showing a loop-opening tube and feed tube of the apparatus of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale,

FIGS. 3 to 8 are fragmentary details showing parts of the apparatus of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale compared with FIG. 1, the consecutive figures illustrating successive stages in the formation of a tuft, and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view in the direction of the arrow IX in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 1, apparatus in accordance with the invention comprises a backing fabric support constituted by a pair of plates 10, 11 disposed at a small angle to one another and spaced apart to provide a narrow slot 12 therebetween. A continuous web of backing fabric 13 is fed oif a reel (notshown) and passes around guide rollers 14, 15, 16 and 17 and intermediate tension roller sets 18 and 19 to the backing fabric support 10, 11 and thereafter to guide roller 21, feed roller 22 and guide roller 23, from whence it passes to a. take-up reel, not shown.

An electric motor 24 drives, by means of a chain 25, a reduction gear 26 which, in turn, drives a primary main shaft 27, by chain 28. A pinion 29 on the primary main shaft 27 meshes with an idler pinion 30 which engages a pinion 31 on a secondary main shaft 32 to drive the latter.

Mounted on the secondary main shaft 32 is a secondary set of cams shown at 33, of which one is engaged by ,a take-up lever 34 which is swingably mounted upon a lever shaft 35. A take-up lever connecting rod 36 (part of which has been omitted for the sage of clarity) connects the take-up lever with a feed arm 37 swingably located on a feed shaft 38 disposed adjacent the feed roller 22. The feed shaft 38 has a pinion 39 thereon and this meshes with an idler pinion 40 which, in turn, meshes with a pinion 41 on the feed roller.

A pawl 42 is provided on the feed arm 37 and this engages a ratchet wheel 43 on the shaft 38 so that when the feed arm 37 is oscillated about the feed shaft 38 by the action of the take-up lever 34 under control of its cam of the secondary cam set 33 through the take-up lever connecting rod 36, the take-up shaft 38 is rotated stepwise in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG 1, so as to progress the backing fabric 13 intermittently over the support 10, 11.

Below the support 10, 11 is mounted a bank of needles 44 (of which one only is visible in FIG. 1) these being mounted in a carriage 45 including slides 46 slidable through guides 47 mounted upon a stationary machine frame part 48. The carriage 45 is connected, by an adjustable link 49, with a needle lever 50 which is pivoted on a shaft 51 and has a follower arm 52 engaging with a cam of a primary cam set 53 mounted .upon the primary drive shaft 27. The relative cam of the primary cam set 53 operates, therefore, to reciprocate the needles 44, and the arrangement is such that the needles 44am reciprocable between the position illustrated in FIG. 1, wherein they project through the backing fabric 13 anda withdrawn position wherein they are disposed below the support 10, 11.

=54 being wound upon a beam 55 and passing over tensioning-bars 56, binding yarn let-off rollers 57 and 58 and 3 guides 59, 60, 61, 62 to the needles 44. The guide 61 is provided upon one arm 63 of a bell crank lever 64, a link 65 connecting said arm 63 to the slide 46 of the carriage '45. The other arm 66 of the bell crank lever is connected to a helical tension spring 67 which is secured to a stationary part (not shown) of the machine and acts to tend to rotate the bell crank lever 64 in an anticlockwise direction as viewed in the drawings, thereby to apply tension to the binding yarns 54 through the guide 61.

The let-'ofi? roller 57 is driven, through a pinion 68, from a drive sprocket 69, a belt or chain 70 extending around the sprocket 69 and a sprocket 71 provided on the backing fabric feed roller 22, so that the binding yarns 54 are fed off the beam 55 at substantially the same linear speed as the backing fabric is progressed. Tensioning rollers 72 tension the belt or chain 70.

Disposed just above the support 10, 11 is a stationary cutter plate 73, this being provided with a plurality of apertures each in alignment with a needle 44, so that the needles 44 can extend therethrough in their positions shown in FIG. 1. This stationary cutter plate, which can be seen more clearly in FIGS. 3 to 8, is mounted upon a fixed part 74 of the machine frame, said part '74 pro viding a bearing surface for a cutter slide 75 w-here on movable cutter blades 76 are mounted. The cutter slide 75 is connected by an adjustable link 77 to an arm 78 of a bell crank lever 79 pivotable about a bearing 80, the other arm 81 of the bell crank lever 79 being connected, by a cutter connecting rod 82, to a cutter lever 83 which is mounted on shaft 35 and engages a respective cam of the primary cam set 53.

Oscillation of the cutter lever 83, under control of its cam, therefore causes the movable cutter blades 76 to reciprocate back and forth on the stationary cutter plate '7 3, thereby passing back and forth over the apertures in the plate 73 to sever such filaments as may project through such apertures.

Also arranged upon the stationary machine part 74, below the stationary cutter plate 73, is a tuft rake bar 88. This bar 88 is reciprocable along the underside of the cutter plate 73 in a maner similar to the cutter blades 76, being connected by an adjustable link 84 to a bell crank lever 85 which, in turn, is connected by a connecting rod 86 with a tuft rake lever 37 engaging a respective cam of the primary cam set 53.

Disposed above the support part 11 so as to lie at one side of the slot 12 is a stationary holder 89 for a bank of slidable tufting material inserters which are indicated generally at 90 in FIG. 1, and which are shown in detail in FIG. 2. One inserter 90 is provided for each needle 44 and each comprises a loop-opening tube in the form of an outer inserter tube 91 which is of rectangular crosssection and has a slotted lug 92 at one end and is cut oif at an oblique angle at 93 at the other end.

The outer inserters 91 are mounted, by their lugs 92, and with the interposition of suitable spacers (not visible in the drawings) which are disposed between adjacent lugs, upon an outer inserter thrust bar 94 which is con nected by a pair of links 95 to a bell crank lever 96 swingable about a shaft 97 and operable to oscillate the outer inserter tubes 91 along their longitudinal axes. A connecting rod 98 connects the bell crank lever 96 with an outer inserter lever 99 which co-operates with a respective cam of the secondary cam set 33.

Slidably located within each outer inserter tube 91 is a tufting material feed tube in the form of an inner inserter tube 100 (see FIG. 2) of corresponding cross section, and having at one end a lug 101 similar to lugs 92. At the other end each inner inserter tube 100 terminates in a pair of parallel tonguees 102 which are bent at their extreme ends to abut one another. These tongues 102 are resilient and engage each other with a light resilient pressure.

The lugs 101 of the inner inserter tubes 100 locate on an inner inserter thrust bar 103 which is connected, by a link 104, to a two armed lever 105 which, in turn, is

4 connected by a connecting rod 106 with an inner inserter lever 107 engaging a respective cam of the primary cam set 53, whereby the inner inserter tubes are reciprocable within the outer inserter tubes 91.

A continuous filament 108 of tufting material, e.g., woolen yarn, is fed to each inserter 90 from a suitable supply (not shown) and these pass between tufting material feed rollers 109, 110, under a guide 111 and over a guide 112 carried by a tensioning lever 113 which is pivotally mounted at 114 and is loosely connected with the link 104.

The feed roller is mounted upon a shaft 115 whereon is located an inching lever 116 which is connected by a connecting rod 117 to a filament feed lever 118 engaging a respective cam of the primary cam set 53. A freewheel device 119 is provided in the inching lever 116 so that stepwise anticlockwise rotation of the shaft is oscillated.

Also provided on the shaft 115 are a pair of feed roller raising cams 120 which are rotatable by levers 121 to raise the feed roller 109 and thereby facilitate threading in of the filaments 108.

Referring now to FIG. 3 the tufting filaments 108 each pass around their guides 112 to within their respective inner inserter tubes 100, being threaded through the latter so as to project a short distance out of the inner inserter tube 100 but not out of the outer inserter tube 91. Each filament 108 extends between the tongues 102 of its inner inserter tube 100, and the inwardly bent ends of the tongues 102 press onto the filament 108 and act to prevent the filament 108 being drawn back out of the inserter (i.e. in a direction towards the lug 101) whilst at the same time permitting the filament to be drawn in the opposite direction (i.e. in the forward direction) through the inserter.

FIGS. 3 to 9 illustrate the various operations which occur during the formation of a single tuft when the apparatus is operating, it being understood that a plurality of such tufts are produced simultaneously in a row across the backing fabric, at every operating cycle of the machine.

Initially, the needle 44 will be Withdrawn below the support 10, 11, as shown in FIG. 8, and the binding yarn 54 thereof is suitably anchored to the backing fabric 13.

The needle 44 is raised, so as to project through the backing fabric 13, to the position illustrated in FIG. 3, so that the binding yarn 54 is drawn through the backing fabric 13 to form a loop at the upper side thereof, the needle 44 becoming stationary when a recess 122 (see particularly FIG. 9) therein is in alignment with the respective outer inserter tube 91.

The outer inserter tube 91 and the inner inserter tube 100 are now both displaced simultaneously towards the needle 44, the outertube 91 entering between the needle 44 and the binding yarn 54 (see FIGS. 4 and 9) and becoming stationary when it just projects past the needle 44, as shown in FIG. 4.

The inner tube 100, however, continues to move so that the end of the tufting material filament 108 projecting therefrom is caused to protrude out of the outer inserter tube by an amount sufiicient to form a tuft, as shown in FIG. 5. This movement provides for smooth insertion of the tufting filament 108 through the loop of binding yarn 54.

The inner and outer inserter tubes 91 and 100 now move' simultaneously in the opposite direction so as to withdraw from the loop of binding yarn 54, to the position shown in FIG. 6, this movement being suflicient to 75 yarn 54 pulls the tufting material filament 108 towards the backing fabric (see FIG. 6) and when the loop of yarn 54 has been withdrawn as far as possible the filament 108 is anchored onto the backing fabric 13, as shown in FIG. 7.

Whilst the filament is so anchored, the inner inserter tube 100 is displaced away from the needle 44 towards its starting position, as shown in FIG. 7 so that the tufting material 108 is drawn through the inner tube 100 by an amount equal to the amount required to form a tuft.

Next, the cutter blades 76 are caused to slide over the stationary cutter plate 73 so as to shear off from the continuous tufting material that part, indicated at 123 in FIGS. 7 and 8, which has been anchored to the backing material 13, so as to form a tuft. Immediately thereafter, the tuft rake bar 88 is reciprocated across the apertures in the cutter plate 73 to push the newly formed tuft away from the slot 12 in the support 10, 11 so that it will not interfere with the formation of the next row of tufts.

In completion of the working cycle, the cutter blades 76 and the tuft rake bar 88 return to their initial positions and the inner inserter tube moves to the right (considerand the inner inserter tube moves to the right (considered with regard to the drawings) to draw into the outer inserter tube 91 any of the tufting material filament 108 which might be projecting therefrom, and the backing fabric 13 is progressed by a suitable distance, whereupon the described cycle is repeated.

It is to be noted that the length of tufting material which projects from the feed tube is held substantially straight and is introduced into the loop by the loop-opening tube. Thus the tufting material is under positive restraint, and, consequently, the apparatus can be used for tufting springy materials (e.g. curly yarns) which can not otherwise be inserted positively into the binding loops. Moreover, the amplitude of movement of the various parts is considerably less than that of the arcuate needles in the aforesaid prior apparatus.

I claim:

'1. Apparatus for making a tufted fabric comprising, a plurality of needles adapted to introduce loops of binding thread into and back out of a length of backing material, and means for introducing into each of the loops a length of tufting material, said introducing means including for each of the loops a loop-opening tube having a tapered end adapted to enter, hold open and Withdraw from the formed loop, and a tufting material feed tube disposed within said loop-opening tube and movable relative thereto to feed tufting material through the loopopening tube.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said tufting material feed tube is shaped at its end corresponding to the tapered end of said loop-opening tube to apply friction to tufting material passiing therethrough.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the said end of said tufting material feed tube is formed with a pair of converging parallel tongues.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including, mechanisms for displacing said loop-opening and tufting material feed tubes whereby said loop-opening tube is moved to engage and open its loop, means for moving said loop-opening tube and said feed tube simultaneously for causing a length of tufting material projecting therefrom to be disposed Within the loop preliminary to the withdrawal of said loop-opening tube.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein, said tufting material feed tube is adapted to be moved away from the loop after the withdrawal of the loop into the backing and the engagement of the tufting material by the loop causes the tufting material to be fed from the feed tube, and means for cutting the attached tufting material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

